Day 216

It's Day 216 of  The Red Shoe Project and as I travel about in my RED flats, I'm reflecting on the value of a testimony.

A Personal Testimony is... 

•   A public recounting of my religious conversion or experience. 
•   It's communicating to others how and why I became a Christian.
•   It's telling people about my relationship with Jesus Christ.
•   It's witnessing to those around me about what God is doing in my life.

It's personal because it's  MY story.   It's not his story or hers... it's not yours...  it's mine.  It's about my unique encounter(s) with God.  It's filled with details and emotion because I've experienced it.

"When I think of the goodness of Jesus

and all He has done for me,

my very soul cries out 'Hallelujah!'

Praise God for saving me!"

Tonight I attended a local  Celebrate Recovery  meeting where some new friends of mine were ministering on "The Father's Love."  The speaker for the evening shared his personal testimony.  Wow!  What a story.  

I don't think there's anything better 

than hearing someone's personal testimony 

of how they came to know Christ as Savior.

This particular guy was young - in his twenties -- and had pretty much hit bottom.  He woke up one Sunday morning, severely hung over from a night of partying, lying on his living room couch.  His sister and daughter had gone to church that morning and left the television on with the volume turned all the way down. 

When he opened his eyes,  he saw Jimmy Swaggart preaching on television.  A message appeared at the bottom of the screen for the hearing impaired.  It read:  

Want a new life?

   1.  Confess to God that you are a sinner.

   2.  Repent from your sins.

   3.  Ask Jesus to come into your heart.

Although he couldn't hear a thing the preacher was saying... He desperately wanted a "New Life!"  He knew he would forget what to do, unless he wrote those three things down, so he grabbed a piece of paper, jotted them down and followed through.  By the time his sister came home from church, he was saved, not to mention, delivered from drugs and alcohol.  How awesome is that?

One of the greatest testimonies of all time can be found in Daniel  4.  

It is the personal story of King Nebuchadnezzar -- the world ruler of his time -- and how he came to declare that God is higher than all... including himself.  

He didn't always think that way.  I encourage you to read this compelling story.  Ultimately Nebuchadnezzar shares his testimony to all the leaders of the then known world.  I kind of think of this as the first official tract ever released with the intent to evangelize the world!

So, what's your story?  How did you come to know Christ as your personal savior?  Have you ever told that story to others?  When was the last time you did that?

Years ago, when I was co-pastoring a little church in Rhode Island,  I remember sitting outside, on a warm summer evening, with a small group of people, testifying of the Goodness of God.  Even back then, I was notorious for asking people... 

"So... What's Jesus doing in your life?" 

I'll never forget this one guy's response.  "Sister Gail," he said  "You always have a fresh testimony!  I have a testimony, but it's five years old and I don't tell it very often.  You have a new testimony every time I see you!" 

You've got to have fresh testimony!  Don't get me wrong... our personal testimony of how we got saved is always special, not to mention, it's a powerful evangelistic tool!  But God doesn't stop once your saved.  He's just getting started!  The Red Shoe Project 

is evidence of that!  

"When you seek me and search for me 

with all your heart, 

then you will find me." says the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:13

I want to encourage you to always be ready, at a moment's notice, to share your personal testimony or a testimony of what God is doing in your life right now!  People so desperately want to know the truth.  They want to know that God is real.  They want to believe that it's not about Religion... that it's about a Relationship with the Living God!  

How will they know if we don't tell them? 

I'm testifying daily, in RED shoes!

Gail

Day 215

It's Day 215 of  The Red Shoe Project  and  I haven't quite slipped on my Ruby Reds for the day yet.  I'm still lying in bed wondering just how I'm gonna let you in on this secret.   I can't believe I'm going to tell you this...  
but today is the day!

Yesterday, something strange happened to me on my prayer walk.
I was about two miles out, when suddenly, BOOM!  my breath was taken from me.
I couldn't breathe!


How weird is that?   No reason.   I had to stop,  right then and there, bend over and  try to catch my breath. "What's going on?"  I thought. "Lord, Is there something you're trying to tell me?   Are you stopping me in my tracks to show me something?   Are you slowing me down for a purpose?"  

I tried to re-start my walk three or four times, but no, it wasn't happening.  My power walk shifted into first gear  and slowly I puttered home.  The rest of the day was business as usual.  I soon forgot about the mishap... until this morning that is.

When I opened my eyes this morning, I noticed immediately the  big BELIEVE sign glaring down at me.  It seemed like God couldn't to wait to tell me...

"Today's 

the day! 

Let's tell the world!"

"Really Lord...  today?  

We're going to tell them today?"  I said.

Then I remembered last night's blog entry on FAITH.  There I was telling you how God speaks to us... over and over again, in the same way, so that we know it's Him.  And today... before I've even gotten out of bed, (Yes, I'm writing this, on my laptop, in bed!),  He's putting me to the test.  He's asking me to trust Him on this and to share the secret so that my "rubies"  can see how it all rolls out to manifestation.


This isn't the first time He's done this.  He has a way of setting me up for the miraculous.  Next thing you know... BOOM!   There it is!  
A little something from heaven, that I never could have anticipated, has been added to the script of my life.   One day, nothing.  The next day, God's blessing has positioned itself front and center. 
If I'd tried to plan it, it never
would have happened.
I guess God just decided to rain down a little fun.   Now then,
what am I gonna do with it?
He wants to tell the world!  


It all started a few months ago.  I woke up just "knowing."   I texted my friend, "Your never going to believe this, but..."    She wasn't surprised in the least.  "Yes..."  she said.   "I see it happening quick!   Like soon!  Maybe even before the end of the year!"

The end of the year?  Really?  

How could something possibly happen 

that quickly... especially when everything else 

in my life is happening so slowly?  

I must admit, I was dumbfounded.  The Spirit inside me seemed to be in total agreement with her.  The time is near.  

What about me?  Don't I have any say in this?  My life is taking off in a new direction and I find myself running to jump on the plane so as not to be left behind from my own destiny.  LOL!  
I'll have to think this thing through while in flight!


I began looking back on the last year of my life.  Three people, out of nowhere have prophesied over me, that this would happen.  I just fluffed it off.  What did they know?  Prophets... always putting stuff out there like that.  They were speaking it, but at the time, I guess I didn't want to hear it.  My heart wasn't in a place to receive a message like that... at least not then.  But things were changing rapidly.  God began preparing my heart.  In these last months,  I've undergone major surgery and didn't even realize the seriousness of it all.  It was divine heart surgery performed by Doctor Jesus, Himself.

I'm getting married!

He's told me I'm getting married!

My dearest of friends recently called me and said... 

"Gail, I just had a dream about you last night!  

It was a Wizard of Oz dream!"  

I broke into her declaration and asked... 

"Was I getting married?"

 She responded in disbelief...

"Oh my gosh... 

How did you know that?"  

What can I say?

  He's preparing my heart!

Corrie Ten Boom was locked up in solitary confinement for months.  She got to what she described as an all time low.  In her despair she cried out to God... "I don't think I can bear being alone with no one to talk to any longer, Lord!" At that very moment, her eye caught a glimpse of an ant.  That's right... an ant.  She began talking to the ant.  Every day, (God only knows for  how long),  that ant came out of its little hole and she talked to it.  

While I was prayer walking last week, the Lord began to open up the scriptures to me about Adam in the garden.  God knew that it was not good for man to be alone.  Human Beings were never created to be alone.  (Oh my gosh... Corrie Ten Boom was speaking to the ant, because she wasn't created to be alone!)  God showed me how He specifically made woman to compliment the man. Two individual human beings meant to unite as one!   WOW!

As I lay here considering all that God has done,  I see that He's been grooming me all year-- changing my heart, changing my mindset,  preparing me for a new life -- 
a life with someone,  someone specific that He's chosen for me to unite with for a purpose!



Those of you still waiting for your Special One,  please don't hate me for this.
I remember reading that J.R.R. Tolken, (author of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings), was quite perturbed when his friend C.S. Lewis presented to him his manuscript entitled,  The Chronicles of Narnia.  Tolken had spent over a decade developing lands and languages and characters.  How was it that Lewis could throw a similar type work together in such a short period of time?  It's simply not fair!   It's not supposed to work that way!  Surely it's not possible!  What can I say?  Sometimes God just does it that way.  He drops a blessing into your lap. Who knows why?

So the secret is out!  Shall 2014 be a new book...  Married in RED shoes?   LOL.  Time will tell.  I know I'm on the threshold of a new adventure,  but as I've mentioned before, God's  "divine timing" can be tricky. "Soon"  to Him, is not always the same as how I interpret "soon"  to be.  I guess we'll find out together.  In case you are wondering...

"Who is he?  

Who's this man Gail is going to marry?" 

I haven't met him yet...
at least I don't think I have.
I only know this:
He's already taken my breath away!

Talk more soon,
Gail

Day 214

Today is Day 214 of  The Red Shoe Project.  I started out in my black suit and RED heels for an important business luncheon earlier in the day.  Now, I've kicked off my shoes entirely, and am dressed down significantly.  Comfortable is best when blogging.

Before I even stepped foot from my bed this morning,  I noticed
a picture that hung on my wall.
I painted it, myself, earlier in the year, at an art class I attended.  It shows a little girl, in RED Mary Janes, opening a big, heavy, wooden door and peeking inside.   Behind it, a magnificent light shines forth.

In big, bold, block letters, 

the sign on the door says...

"FAITH." 

That's exactly where I was in the early months of  The Red Shoe Project.
I felt so small in comparison with the things that God was bringing my way.  Part of me was intrigued and excited, like a child looking inside the door of a toy store.  On the other hand... how intimidating!  Who would have thought, that in such a short period of time, these RED shoes of mine would march me right into the middle of that place? LOL.

I'm not saying that I'm not intimidated at times.  But I'm no longer outside, looking in.  I'm well into the world of FAITH.

One of the things that I found fascinating in L. Frank Baum's book, The Wizard of Oz, was the chapter featuring "The Guardian of the Gate."
When Dorothy and her friends arrived at the Emerald City to see the Wizard, they first had to  pass through the front gate.  There, they were met by The Guardian of the Gate who fixed upon each of their heads a pair of green colored glasses.

How else would everyone view the  GREENESS  of The Emerald City?  With the glasses locked in place and immovable, everything appeared some shade of green.  (You didn't know that, did you?)

Sometimes faith can be that way.  Things seen by faith are not visible to the human eye.  I have to put on my spiritual glasses to see them.
Once I had a pair of readers that had tiny little lights on the front of them so that I could see what I was reading in the dark.  They were tiny, but they were powerful.  Everything on the page immediately came to the forefront.

The Holy Spirit is the power behind my spiritual glass.  He brings everything that is meant to be in the future 

to the forefront of my heart and mind.  

Why?

So I can pray it into existence!

God loves it when I believe enough to pray something I've seen with my spiritual glasses into existence.  That means I keep bathing what God's shown me or told in prayer, until I see it happen.   Every time I go to prayer, I remind God of it. When I talk to Him, I say things like... 

"I know you are going to do it, Lord!  
Hallelujah!  

 Praise the Lord!  I can't wait!  
Thank You Jesus!

Bring it to pass, Lord!  
Glory to God!  
Amen!"

What I love most is the manifestation of those prayers.  Seeing what He told me would happen,  become reality.   Just a note though... sometimes manifestation comes the same day, week, month or year.  And other times it's decades.  (It's that  "Divine Time"  thing!)  But if He shows you, just believe, pray it through, and it will come to pass.

Jesus said in Mark 9:23 NIV...

"Everything is possible for one who believes!"

One thing I've noticed is this...

When it comes to FAITH, 

you have to start sometime, somewhere.  

Once you do, it gets easier.  

Here's why...

God shows you something.  You think, "Maybe this is God?" 
so you follow through and pray.  Next thing you know, it happens.
You think... "Wow!  God told me He was going to do that and He did!"
Then some time goes by and God shows you something again...
almost exactly in the same way.  You think...
"God did something like this before - Maybe it's God again?"
So you follow through and pray again.  Sure enough, it happens.
"Wow!"  you think.  "Look what God has done!"
Some time goes by and lo and behold it happens again, and again, and again.
And God is faithful time and time again.

 He so desperately wants us 

to know His voice and how He works.  

That's why He does things the same way over and over again.  He's building your faith through experience.  Then, He'll speak to you a little differently... and the cycle repeats itself.  It doesn't take long before you realize that time and time again, God comes through... that you can trust Him to do what He says He's going to do.

Before you know it, there you are -- in the big world of FAITH, in your little RED shoes, believing God for GREAT and MIGHTY things!

Amen!

Gail

Day 213

213 Days... that's how long I've been wearing RED shoes and looking for God.  Last night and most of today was a time of soaking in His presence.  That's right... every free moment, I have found myself with my headset on listening to worship music and closing in with God.  Sure... I've had other things going on too, but, I don't know... I just can't seem to get enough of Him.

Sometimes you just want to be around that  "Special One", you know?  You can't wait for Him to walk in the room, and when He does, you just want to plant yourself next to Him.  When He speaks, you listen.  When He doesn't, you listen anyways...  waiting patiently for words to drop from His lips. Who cares?  You're in His presence.  And when He's not right there in front of you, you're consumed with wondering... "When will He be?" 

Yup...  I'm hooked!  He has won my heart.  It's done.  

I'm His! 

Yesterday, one of the ladies at Bible study shared from
The Song of Solomon 4:9 which says,

"You have ravished my heart, 
my sister, my spouse." 

Another translation of this is could be...

"You have stolen - captured -
 taken possession of my heart.  
I can't get enough of you.
I want to be connected to you!
I want to be with you all the time!" 

King Solomon, (son of King David) is the writer of this magnificent love song. It is primarily the poetic words of The Bridegroom to His Bride.  This is the depiction of the Love of Jesus towards His Bride:  The Church.

Jesus is saying to The Church,  "YOU have captured my heart!"  If  The Church has captured God's heart... that means I've captured God's heart.   Jesus is saying... "Gail... You have captured my heart.  I can't get enough of you.  I want to be connected to you!  I want to be with you all the time!"  
All this time, I thought it was the other way around.  I thought I was pursuing Him.   I thought He had captured my heart.  But no... He's pursuing me!  Really?  He's pursuing me?   WOW!

When my daughter was little, there was this little banter back and forth that we used to have.   I would say, "I love you!" and she would respond, "No, I love you!"  I would return with "No, I love you more!"  and she would say... "No, I love you more!"  After going back and forth several times, we would eventually give up, giggle and say together..."We both love each other." 

I guess that's how it is with God.  We both love each other.
I can't tell anymore who's pursuing who.
All I know is that I love Him!

Maybe this is what...

"Loving the Lord, 
my God with all my 
heart, mind, soul 
and strength"

is all about.  Look!  I'm doing it!

In RED shoes, 
Gail